The team from Big Little Lies have reunited to tell a story about the lies people tell themselves. Nicole Kidman – also coming off the success of Aquaman – stars in HBO’s The Undoing, a new limited series written by David E. Kelley, who also serves as showrunner.
Susanne Bier serves as director and executive producer for all the episodes, which is quite a coup, seeing as she’s coming off the tremendously successful Netflix film, Bird Box, and previous Primetime Emmy-winning glory for her work on the BBC/AMC miniseries, The Night Manager. The psychological thriller series adapts Jean Hanff Korelitz’s 2014 bestselling book, You Should Have Known, which was published by Grand Central Publishing.
Kidman stars in the dramatic thriller series as a New York-based therapist whose ideal life becomes unraveled upon the revelation that her husband (played by Hugh Grant) may be responsible for a widespread disaster.
The Undoing Trailer
The first teaser trailer for HBO’s The Undoing has arrived.
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The Undoing Release Date
The Undoing is set to premiere on HBO in May on a date to be revealed.
The Undoing Details
As HBO’s official logline for The Undoing reads:
The limited series The Undoing, premiering this May, stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant as Grace and Jonathan Fraser, who are living the only lives they ever wanted for themselves. Overnight a chasm opens in their lives: a violent death and a chain of terrible revelations. Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster and horrified by the ways in which she has failed to heed her own advice, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child (Noah Jupe) and her family.
Kidman, who won an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award for her role as Celeste Wright on Big Little Lies, is joined by a cast consisting of known names like Hugh Grant, Edgar Ramirez and Donald Sutherland. They will share the screen with up-and-comers such as Lily Rabe (American Horror Story), Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place), Matilda De Angelis (of the upcoming Roberto Benigni-starring Pinocchio), Ismael Cruz Cordova (Berlin Station), Michael Devine (Limitless) and Noma Dumezweni (Mary Poppins Returns).
The Undoing sees Kidman starring as Grace Sachs, an Upper East Side therapist who is weeks away from publishing her first book, called “You Should Have Known.” It is a self-help book that scolds women who lie to themselves about their husbands’ behavior. Sachs’ young son attends an elite private school in New York City. Her world is upended by the gruesome death of a fellow mother, and her husband’s disappearance.
As Kidman expressed in a statement, via Variety, back in March 2018 upon the initial news of the series:
“David has created another propulsive series with a fascinating, complicated female role at its center. She added, “I’m excited and honored to continue collaborating with HBO and David E. Kelley.”
“We’re thrilled to continue our creative relationships with both Nicole and David and can’t wait to bring this show to life,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys added in a statement.
“I loved this book. A character-driven psychological thriller, I’m excited about the adaptation and thrilled to be able to do it with Nicole and HBO,” Kelley said in the 2018 statement.
The series is executive produced by Papandrea, under her Made Up Stories banner, and Kidman under the Blossom Films banner, with the company’s Per Saari. Blossom is currently developing an adaptation of the books The Silent Wife, Reconstructing Amelia, Janice Lee’s best-seller The Expatriates, and the off-Broadway vampire play Cuddles.
The announcement of The Undoing arrived shortly after Hulu announced it is going straight-to-series with Little Fires Everywhere, which will star Reese Witherspoon. Kidman’s Blossom Films is also teaming with Witherspoon and Papandrea to adapt Big Little Lies author Laine Moriarty’s new novel Truly Madly Guilty into a limited series.
Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.